Lewandowski successor found: Italian is Europe's footballer of the year

At the Champions League draw, UEFA named Jorginho Europe's Footballer of the Year.

Now he could do what his predecessor Lewandowski was denied.

Istanbul - The Lewandowski successor is certain. Jorginho was named Europe's Footballer of the Year by UEFA as part of the Champions League * draw in Lisbon. The Italian midfielder in the service of Chelsea won the election ahead of his team-mate N'Golo Kanté and Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City). In contrast to Robert Lewandowski *, the 29-year-old can now have legitimate hopes for the Ballon d'Or.

Jorginho won the two most important titles in international football in 2021 - the European Championship with Italy, the Champions League with Chelsea and recently the European Supercup.

The 29-year-old defensive midfielder was one of the top performers at both Squadra Azzurra and the Blues.

Jorginho is Europe's Footballer of the Year: This is how he became Lewy's successor

Europe's Footballer of the Year was chosen by the 24 coaches of the European Championship participants and 80 coaches of the clubs that took part in the group stage of the Champions League * and Europa League.

In addition, 55 journalists from each of UEFA's 55 member associations received one vote.

Spicy: A few hours before the award ceremony in Lisbon, it was leaked that Jorginho had won the election.

Jorginho's competition on the shortlist was tough: his team-mate and reigning world champion N'Golo Kanté ended the past Champions League season furiously: He was recognized as player of the game in both the semi-finals against Real Madrid and in the final against Manchester City.

Kevin De Bruyne led Manchester City to the CL final and the Premier League title.

Europe's Footballer of the Year: These are UEFA's top 10

1st place	Jorginho	Chelsea & Italy
Place 2/3	N'Golo Kanté	Chelsea & France
Place 2/3	Kevin De Bruyne	Man. City & Belgium
4th place	Lionel Messi	Barcelona / PSG & Argentina
5th place	Robert Lewandowski	FC Bayern & Poland
Rank 6	Gianluigi Donnarumma	AC Milan / PSG & Italy
7th place	Kylian Mbappé	PSG & France
8th place	Raheem Sterling	Man. City & England
9th place	Cristiano Ronaldo	Juventus & Portugal
Place 10	Erling Haaland	BVB & Norway

Last year's winner Robert Lewandowski made it into fifth place this year, despite his historic 41 Bundesliga goals for the German record champions.

Borussia Dortmund's * Sturmwaffe Erling Haaland was voted tenth.

They are the only two Bundesliga * players in the top 10.

Jorginho voted Europe's Footballer of the Year by UEFA - he succeeds Lewandowski

In contrast to his Polish predecessor, Jorginho is now one of the narrow favorites for the Ballon d'Or when he was named European Footballer of the Year. In 2020, the most important individual award in world football was not awarded due to the corona pandemic - to the annoyance of many Bayern fans. In the end, Lewy was voted world footballer, but he did not get the Ballon d'Or.

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